Small Dietary Changes can Cut Carbon Footprint by 25%

New research published in Nature Foods assessing the diets of adults living in Canada provides compelling evidence that even partial replacement of red and processed meat with protein-rich plant foods – like nuts, seeds, legumes, tofu, and fortified soy beverages – can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The researchers at McGill University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine drew data from a large national nutrition survey, and modeled how replacing just half the typical red and processed meat intake with plant protein foods would impact climate outcomes. They found that such changes would lead to a substantial 25% reduction in diet-related greenhouse gas emissions. Not only that, but when they also factored relative health risks from the Global Burden of Disease study, they found such changes would significantly reduce risk of chronic disease and increase life expectancy.

The findings led co-author Patricia Eustachio Colombo to highlight: "Increasing the consumption of plant-based foods alongside reductions in red and processed meat would have considerable benefits for health and the environment and would involve relatively small changes in diets for most people in Canada"

References

Auclair, O., Eustachio Colombo, P., Milner, J., & Burgos, S. A. (2024). Partial substitutions of animal with plant protein foods in Canadian diets have synergies and trade-offs among nutrition, health and climate outcomes. Nature food, 5(2), 148–157. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-00925-y